Narcissus in the suburbs, revisited

I was browsing The Last Psychiatrist a while ago, and I stumbled across a post where he lists the formal DSM criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I found this interesting, even useful, because back when D first suggested to me that what Wife suffers from is narcissism, I had never heard of it. I certainly had no criteria with which to judge if D was right or not. And the couple of times I have mentioned the topic to other people, I have been unable to explain it to anyone's satisfaction.

So here is the list reprinted by the Last Psychiatrist. I have highlighted in red the parts that I think are particularly relevant to Wife:

Here are the DSM criteria for NPD, of which you must score at least five:

• grandiose sense of self-importance
• preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
• belief that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
• need for excessive admiration
• sense of entitlement
• takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
• lack of empathy
• envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
• arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

And yes, that's five.

Probably I should discuss these and give examples, but it's late and I'm tired. Perhaps later. Meanwhile, I do think the list is awfully interesting ...